Monday, March 31, 2014

Memories keep Thanabalan giving back to the game

N. THANABALAN’S name
may not ring a bell to the majority of the new generation of footballers, but
he was an icon in the 1960s.

He may not be as well
known as his teammates Wong Choon Wah,Chow Chee Keong, Sardar Khan, Chow Kwai Lam, Dell Akbar, M. Karathu, M.
Chandran or Abdullah Nordin, to name but a few, but Thanabalan, who turns 71 on
April 29, had his fair share of the limelight. Sadly, that has been forgotten.

Thanabalan, who
turned out for Selangor and the nation from 1963 to 1971, has a record that
stands until today: he scored the most number of goals in a Malaysia Cup final –
four (a hattrick and the sixth goal). This was in Selangor’s 8-1 demolition of
Penang in the 1968 Cup final at the Merdeka Stadium.

Thanabalan has four
Malaysia Cup medals with Selangor.

It was also in 1968
that he was the hero of the Merdeka Cup tournament, when Malaysia played Burma
(now Myanmar) in the final on the eve of his wedding day. He took to the field,
scored a goal in their 3-0 win to hoist the Cup, which was last won in 1959. Thanabalan
scored a total of eight goals in six matches in the tournament. He capped 107
times for the nation.

But mention
Thanabalan’s name today, and many will ask “who?”

The diminutive
striker, though, does not mind not being as famous as many of his football
peers. “I had my fair share of the limelight while I was playing, but my name
did not stand out after my playing days,” says the trim septuagenarian who keeps
fit with morning walks every day. He has been a vegetarian for the last 20
years and does not smoke or drink.

Thanabalan, who
worked for Tenaga Nasional for 35 years until he retired in 1998, still goes
back to the field three times a week to be with the veteran Kilat football
team. He is the team’s advisor and sometimes does a little bit of coaching.

Well known or not, Thanabalan
is giving back whatever he can to the game, which he greatly enjoyed since he
first started playing in 1950s in the small field overlooking the 100 Quarters
in Brickfields. He was also a middle-distance and cross-country runner during
his school days in Batu Road School and Victoria Institution, winning many
honours.

Thanabalan is currently
the vice-president of the ex-State and Ex-National Footballers Association of
Malaysia, serving his second term.

Father to neurosurgeon
associate professor Dr Jegan and chartered accountant Thanashree, Thanabalan lost
his wife of 44 years Jeyalachumy two years ago and has been spending more time on
the football field and with his football friends.

The ever-friendly
Thanabalan has time for everyone and his advice to aspiring footballers is
simple: “Fitness and discipline are two key factors which every footballer must
have.

“They say that the
game has changed in these modern times, but fitness and discipline still play
vital roles in moulding players. Coaches these days do not emphasis fitness and
are afraid to discipline the players. They always take the popular decision to
please various quarters and the game and the players suffer.”

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